History
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) website states that the NAM "was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1895. The U.S. was in the midst of a deep recession and many of the nation’s manufacturers saw a strong need to export their products in other countries. One of the NAM’s earliest efforts was to call for the creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce". The organization's first president was Thomas Dolan of Philadelphia (not, as erroneously listed in some sources, Samuel P. Bush).
The early history of NAM was marked by frank verbal attacks on labor. In 1903, then-president David MacLean Parry delivered a speech at its annual convention which argued that unions' goals would result in "despotism, tyranny, and slavery." Parry advocated the establishment of a great national anti-union federation under the control of the NAM, and the NAM responded by initiating such an effort.
In an address at its 1911 convention, NAM president John Kirby, Jr. proclaimed, "The American Federation of Labor is engaged in an open warfare against Jesus Christ and his cause."
The NAM also encouraged the creation and propagation of a network of local anti-union organizations, many of which took the name Citizens' Alliance. In October 1903 the local Citizens' Alliance groups were united by a national called the Citizens' Industrial Alliance of America.
NAM, in the late 1930s, used one of the earliest versions of a modern multi-faceted public relations campaign to promote the benefits of capitalism and to combat the policies of President Roosevelt. NAM made efforts to undermine organized labor in the United States before the New Deal. NAM lobbied successfully for the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act to restrict unions' power.
The advent of commercial television led to the NAM's own 15-minute television program, “Industry on Parade”, which aired from 1950–1960.
Read more about this topic: National Association Of Manufacturers
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